Yipee - Marc's practical skills have been used well today and he has completed the rubberisation of the DW :-) so will be able to start using it in a few days. Whilst this was going on I thought best try and introduce the concept of the running a-f. And bugger me - despite Rivi not having been on one since prestbury park and the fact it was on its lowest height she still 'froze' the blasted agility gremlin of a 'stutter' was still there. I tried to 'play' around with it but I felt I was in danger of losing all the progress made with the DW - yikes -not good at all
So no free a-f for me...how can I eliminate/terminate/suppress this a-f gremlin??!! I dug out our 'baby' af plank that Rivi always liked, and she went over it, but not mirroring the new behaviour learnt on the DW. So I needed her to think of running and still make definite contact with the contact zone too. So I came up with the following way to do it.
The key is for me is:
it resulted in success in terms of achieving my initial goal for training a running AF i.e movement
it provides me with a foundation to build on
and as said before the ultimate for me is always that my Rivi is a happyoli
that I enjoy and get a really sense of satisfaction in being constructive and creative in training - or just having sheer luck that it worked :-)
Its early days I know and who knows if it right or not but at the moment it working for us - we have had 3 great sessions and even if I move the 'send around' cone Rivi absolutely achieves the behaviour :-)
Just love reading about your re-training of the contacts as I am trying to do the same myself after tolerating really slow decents for the past two years.
I have also found it is difficult to break an already established behaviour too but there are some other things that I have also noted.
a) sometimes the aid, (manners miner) teaches the behaviour, rather than the repetitions, take that away and the dog goes back to what it did before; This was even if I moved it 2/3 jumps on and put it out beforehand.
b)Sometimes if the aid wasn't there the dog watched me intently for any body cues for clues even though I tried to alter body movements on every run.
c) The actual piece of equipment, the A frame and D/W, brought back the old behaviour in itself. eg I see this and then do that on it.
As I could see my dog doing a mixture of all the above three I felt it necessary to put in a cue word for the new contact behaviour.
Hi Heather Thank you for your observations, retraining deeply embedded behaviours is really thought provoking and an exciting challenge. Cheers Christine
Zevman - endearing, passionate and opinionated. Perfect in fact . See Zev's web page for more information. by clicking on his picture.
Ag Ch Vanitonia Mister Big - Marcs tiny bundle of mega fun and attitude
The names Big - Mister Big ! See my webpage for more information on my adventures.
Dixie aka Nedlo Strictly Classic
A Small and Mighty.border collie who is definitely large if a bit tiny!
Rivi aka Nedlo Drives Me Wild - AWG
Christine's Rivioli - the one and only - unique.
Nuts aka Woodsorrel Drives Me Nuts
My Nuts - my beautiful border collie, who is my Forever Nuts...In loving memory
Storm aka Storm's A Brewing
My boy, who taught me so much. Thank you and miss you. Took me from Elementary to Novice, in his final year of agility was second overall for the Novice Classic and finished third in the final - DINAS 2004. In Obedience Storm took me from Pre-Beginner to 'A'
Wings aka Woodsorrel Bright Wings
Marc & Wings, a journey indeed - came to us with more baggage than a airport luggage conveyor belt, not that you would know that now :-) Grade 6 in agility with one agility win to Grade 7. Won the KC Novice Cup 2007 and Qualified Crufts Team 2011. Now retired to watch TV and herd to her hearts content.
Raz aka Woodsorrel Crazy Nut
Marc's crazy sweet dog – Obedience C only and Grade 7 - Championship level in Agility. Raz had floaters in his eyes that cause blurring since birth, which build up and cause the retinal detachment. At 6 he finally became blind in one eye and worsening poor vision in the other due to retinal detachment, which meant he was retired at 6 years old. It is amazing and a testament to Marc's handling that Raz did as well as he did. The problem is hereditary / CEA. Raz also has the occasional 'fit' and intolerant of any cereal ie wheat/maize.
Tri aka No spills Tri Thrills
Marc's girl - sorely missed - one fantastic season going senior and to the semi's before being retired at 3 years old - due to chroic hd/back and heart problems. That one year was a golden summer of agility, watching them run together was simply thrilling. Her previous owners had brought her from a pet shop, fortunately they rehomed her to us when she was a around a year old.
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Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteJust love reading about your re-training of the contacts as I am trying to do the same myself after tolerating really slow decents for the past two years.
I have also found it is difficult to break an already established behaviour too but there are some other things that I have also noted.
a) sometimes the aid, (manners miner) teaches the behaviour, rather than the repetitions, take that away and the dog goes back to what it did before; This was even if I moved it 2/3 jumps on and put it out beforehand.
b)Sometimes if the aid wasn't there the dog watched me intently for any body cues for clues even though I tried to alter body movements on every run.
c) The actual piece of equipment, the A frame and D/W, brought back the old behaviour in itself. eg I see this and then do that on it.
As I could see my dog doing a mixture of all the above three I felt it necessary to put in a cue word for the new contact behaviour.
Just my observations.
Regards,
Heather
Hi Heather
ReplyDeleteThank you for your observations, retraining deeply embedded behaviours is really thought provoking and an exciting challenge.
Cheers
Christine